Couple slightly stupid questions

[CoreyG]

Hey everyone,

About to brew my 5th batch of beer but a couple quick questions before I start?

There IS a water advisory in my neighborhood. Is boiling the water going to be enough to make sure my batch doesn't die and how long does it need to boil for.

Also, the ingredients I have have been sitting around for a couple weeks. Its mostly an extract recipe but I have about 2 lbs of specialty grain thats been crushed, sitting in a bag for about 3 weeks now. Should I just toss it and get freshly crushed grain cuz I know the stuff goes bad pretty quick?

Thanks for the advice,
Corey

 

[PT Ray]

I wouldn't hesitate to use the grains. I would certainly bring the water to a boil before using or use store bought. I feel a big factor with "homebrew twang" is water straight from the tap. It's not so much the quality of the city water but the condition of the pipes carrying the water to the faucet. I've got old iron pipes and the inside walls have a good bit of build up. I can easily see this being a good place for microbes to grow if the water stands for too long in the pipe.

 

[Diver165]

So long as the grain has been kept dry I'd use them. As for the water and the boil advisory... If I was in that position I'd buy some water. Just my opinion though

 

[BigTexun]

No problem at all on the grains... zero worries.

As to the water, for me, it would really depend upon the clarity. In my experience, when a municipality has a "water boil" alert, it is because they have been doing maintenance on the water system. As such, it is not uncommon to get a lot of "gunk" from your tap. This could be iron, dirt, or whatever. If it is clear, I think you could use it if you preboiled it all and let it cool to your desired strike temps (versus just heating to your strike temp). Like others, personally I'd just eliminate the risk and buy bottled water.

Good luck!

 

[Dogphish]

the rule of thumb is "if the water tastes good to drink then it is probably suitable for making beer". if your water is under advisory, then it is probably high in salt or has bad flavors. i would buy a filter or use bottled spring water. distilled water and reverse osmosis water are too clean, and need minerals added.